Instagram is the world’s most “active” social media website, with over 18.1% of the global population using it daily. Did you know that?
With more influencers turning to product advertisements, brand deals, or simply wanting to keep aspects of their lives untangled, they are turning to using multiple accounts.
Imagine a billion-dollar worth of Hollywood starlet or pop star who has an Instagram account. Given that they will have a handful of obsessive fans, they will need a second personal account for their close friends and family. Thus, they will have two Instagram accounts. Stars like Shanon Leto have been known to do this.
But with millions of users using the platform, searching for specific profiles can be a hassle. So how do we do it?
But before getting into that, why use alternative methods to find an Instagram user?
1. Keeping under the radar
There is a possibility that you want to limit your internet footprint and do not want to have your Instagram profile accessible to strangers or otherwise random people. Searching for your profile from different devices is smart. This is because it lets you know how easily an outsider can find your profile.
2. Protecting private data
Did you know that following the financial losses incurred by companies, a long line of unemployment, and other social issues arising from the pandemic, data, and financial hacking have increased an alarming 600%? Even with a wide range of cyber security laws and cells being set up across multiple countries, the rate of prosecution and legal action against these hackers is as low as 0.5%. In such alarming and dangerous times, securing your online presence and making your online data as impenetrable as possible becomes all the more important.
3. Looking at potential employees
If you are a small business owner, you may have to depend on Instagram for business promotion. This means every post has to be monitored and filtered. Imagine if one of your employees has questionable, unethical, or simply problematic Instagram posts but has kept them under the radar. With how prevalent cancel culture is right now, you would not want to hire them, right? This is why a deep dive into their Instagram content is essential.
Check out a few of the easiest methods to do so.
Method 1: Searching using an Instagram username
Whether it be Meta, Twitter, Tumblr, or Instagram, searching for someone using their username is the easiest and most convenient way. However, this does not work if you do not know their username or if the individual has chosen to “hide” their profile from the public.
How to do it:
1) Tap Search at the bottom to go to Instagram’s “Search and Explore” section.
2) Tap Search in the Search bar present at the top right corner of the page.
3) Type the username which you want to search for.
4) Then tap the search button on your screen (bottom right).
5) Now, you can filter the type of search results that come up, such as “top results,” “Accounts,” “Audio,” “HashTags,” or “Places.”
Method 2: Using UserSearch.org
Google searches can only get you so far. With VPNs, holding on to your anonymity is easier than ever. Searching multiple sites simultaneously can give you different results, adding more information to the complete search summary. Doing this Search manually can be tedious, especially if you are not tech-savvy.
Some online search tools have been specifically designed to allow you to search Instagram users by name. You’ll then be presented with analytics on the account you are researching. Therefore, if you are considering following a social influencer or company to collaborate with them, you need to conduct an Instagram profile search to get more statistical information on their work and gauge their engagement level with their followers.
UserSearch.org is one such powerful online search tool. It searches through a wide plethora of sites. They include dating sites, online chat forums, social networking sites, and adult entertainment sites.
It is not an entirely free app. But users can get up to 75% off Premium Membership if they avail themselves of the summer sale option.
1) Go to UserSearch.org.
2) From the list of given groups, select which specific pages you would like the search engine to look into: emails, dating sites, etc.
3) In the search bar, type the name or contact details of the person you are looking for, and voila! The page will show you the details.
Method 3: Upload your contact list
Turning on the built-in contact searching feature on Instagram allows you to see which of your saved contacts are on Instagram. You can follow them with just one click. However, as is evident, this works only when you use the app instead of the usual desktop version. Additionally, the app will periodically sync your contact list to keep your suggestion list up to date.
1) Click on your Instagram profile page.
2) Click on the Settings icon. You will get it in the upper right section of the screen.
3) Click on the “Discover People” feature, which you will find in the displayed drop-down menu.
4) The algorithm will ask permission to sync your contact list through a message box.
5) Click on the “Allow Access” menu, enabling Instagram to access your contact list.
6) You will be shown a list of people from your contact list who hold Instagram accounts.
7) Click on the “Follow” option beside each name on the right section of the displayed list.
Method 4: Looking for mutual friends
As the kids these days would be unaware, back in the early 2000s, when sites like Facebook, Orkut, and Myspace were in their heyday, looking for people through mutual friends was our go-to way to search for specific users.
Remember how we used to ask friends to send friend requests to our crushes before doing it ourselves? Good old days!
1) Go to the Instagram profile of your mutual friend.
2) Open their “Following” list.
3) The app will display the entire followers’ list.
4) Scroll through it and click on the “Follow” option once you find the intended profile.
Did you know that privacy settings on Instagram allow only people with a familiar friends to add you? In situations like this, having a mutual friend works out, and you can start to follow the person in question.
Method 5: Using http://findusername.io.
With the rise in popularity of Instagram, the world wide web has seen a sudden bloom in search engines designed specifically for it.
Each search tool is different in design and purpose, offering varying search methods for different integrated platforms. These features can be used for nuanced and specific purposes, depending on the kind of information that you already have on the account you’re searching for.
One such username search engine is Find Username. It cross-checks across 100 different social media websites to look for a specific username. It is specifically made to look for the obtainability of any potential new username. But it also doubles as an Instagram username searcher. It is free to use and gives you results in 15 seconds.
1) Go to http://findusername.io.
2) Go to the “search bar” and type the Instagram username you are searching for.
3) From the results list displayed, click on the profile, and you will be directed to their Instagram IP address.
Conclusion
Whether you are looking for that one friend from high school that you lost touch with, the annoying colleague that nobody seems to find anything wrong with, the recent Tinder date that almost seems too good to be true, or a new potential employee, finding a person on a social media site like Instagram can be easy with the right tools and resources.
Tired of using Google only to get limited results for every Search? Thankfully with how far technology has come, Google is not your only option. With the right tricks and tips, you can carry out a deep username search while saving time and effort and accessing several websites; each focused on finding users online by usernames, phone numbers, and emails.
Let us finish by saying that we are firm believers in respecting an individual’s privacy. So if someone does not want to be found, their privacy should not be invaded unless it is a functional requirement for employment or legal proceedings. Doing so, mainly through illegal means, is a breach of privacy, falls under the domain of cybercrime, and is a punishable offense.
